India batter Shubman Gill goes into the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 as the top-ranked ODI batter after overtaking Pakistan’s Babar Azam in the latest weekly rankings update carried out on Wednesday.
Gill’s 112 off 102 balls opening the batting against England in the third ODI in Ahmedabad last Wednesday put him 23 rating points ahead of Babar with an aggregate of 796 points in the ICC Men’s ODI Batting Rankings.
The India vice-captain regains top position after first clinching it for the first time in November 2023, during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.
Shreyas Iyer, who struck 78 in that match, has also moved up one slot to ninth position as India go into the eight-team tournament with four batters in the top 10. Captain Rohit Sharma is in third position and star batter Virat Kohli is sixth.
Pakistan, who open their campaign in the Champions Trophy against New Zealand in Karachi, see captain Mohammad Rizwan progress six places to 15th after a couple of fine knocks in the Tri-Nation series played in Pakistan – 122 not out against South Africa and 46 in the final against New Zealand.
Salman Agha, Player of the Series with an aggregate of 219 runs, has galloped 24 places to 48th after scores of 134 against South Africa and 45 in the final against New Zealand over the past week.
Other players to gain in the latest rankings update include Heinrich Klaasen (up one place to fourth), Aiden Markram (up one place to 25th) and Temba Bavuma (up five places to 30th) of South Africa while New Zealand players Daryl Mitchell (up two places to fifth), Devon Conway (up five places to 35th), Glenn Phillips (up six places to 41st) and Tom Latham (up four places to 42nd) have also made notable progress.
In the bowling rankings, Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan has conceded top position to Sri Lanka’s Mahesh Theekshana while South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj returns to the rankings in sixth position.
Spinners Mitchell Santner of New Zealand (up five places to seventh) and Adil Rashid of England (up three places to 22nd) are others to make inroads, while Pakistan fast bowler Naseem Shah has moved up from 48th to 45th position. (UNI)
